The Absolute Worst - An Agents of SHIELD Fanfiction Novella
by Lavender Nebula Twilight
Summary: The Lighthouse has calmed down after Izel's defeat and SHIELD has retaken their position as Earth's protection agency. On a recon mission in New Jersey, the team encounters a young girl near a mysterious crater site. En route to the solve, Director Mack selects Fitz as the girl's babysitter and he discovers something about her identity that lands him in critical condition. Rated T.
1. Chapter One - Crater Under Pressure

Thanks for clicking on my Agents of SHIELD Novella: _The Absolute Worst!_ Let me tell you a little bit about the book.

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_**Synopsis:**_

The Lighthouse has calmed down after Izel's defeat and SHIELD has retaken their position as Earth's protection agency. On a recon mission in New Jersey, the team encounters a young girl near a mysterious crater site. En route to the solve, Director Mack selects Fitz as the girl's babysitter and he discovers something about her identity that lands him in critical condition. Rated T.

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_**Excerpts:**_ Unavailable at this time.

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_**Foreword: **_So about a month ago, I just finished season 6 of Agents of SHIELD and it was...WOW, it was incredible! I love the show so so so so so soooooooo much and I have so many ideas for one-shots and fanfiction. _The Absolute Worst_ is one of them. It took me three months to watch all that Netflix has currently released, and when I started, I thought: "hmm, I've heard a lot about this show. I'll give it a shot." And little did I know I was in for the best emotional experience of my LIFE. Agents of SHIELD has been such a ride and I'm so grateful that these characters exist. 3

AND WHEN FITZ CONFESSED AT 1X22 OH MY GOSH MY HEART

i was like "OK FITZ FAV CHARACTER RIGHT THERE NO QUESTION"

In season 5 and 6, Fitz really starts to be put into constant "babysitting/supervising" jobs with everyone– Enoch, Deke, Robin, young Jemma (inescapable), etc., etc. I loved it so much that I got the idea to start a mini fanfiction about him babysitting a little child and have him get ticked off. I LOVE IT WHEN HE GETS ANNOYED OR TICKED OFF 'cuz he's so hilarious about it...

But then I got the idea to expand the story to more than just levity. I got the idea to put a plot and a real conflict to it. Also hurting Fitz is just exciting... MWAHAHAHAAA!

Obviously, the title of the book comes from Fitz's tendency (at least in inescapable) to call people "the absolute worst."

_**One thing before you dive in:**_

This is set after 6x13, but I'm ignoring the time jump. I'm also ignoring Coulson's LMD and the fact that _this_ Fitz hasn't experienced and doesn't have memory of the fifth season. I'm giving him those memories anyways for the sake of some bonding moments between characters. I'm making it so that, after Izel's defeat, Earth goes back to how it was before all this. Because let's be real, Fitz is the best annoyed-parent EVER in season 6... xD YES! Fitz is my favorite Agents of SHIELD character...

_I think that's it, actually._

Wow. Not much to say, I guess.

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**I love reviews also!** And not because I'm bragging and I want y'all to tell me how great I am. Do you come across a chapter that you think could be improved upon? Some error you notice? Tell me! I strive to improve. :D But if you really like a chapter or something, again, let me know!

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So, I think that's it! I hope you will stick around, review, favorite, follow, all that cool stuff. :D

Without further ado, please enjoy the first chapter of _The Absolute Worst!_

Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:**

**I do not own the Avengers movies, the Marvel franchise, or any of the characters. That all belongs to Marvel Studios. Everything to Marvel Studios.**** Any added dialogue, plots, or characters are mine, but nothing else. I don't own it.**

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Chapter One - Crater Under Pressure

"Fitz, you there?"

I jerk awake on the table as Mack's static voice blasts through the comms feed. Yanking my cheek from the cold desk, I scramble to hit a button on the holo-table. "Yep. Here."

"Thanks, Turbo. Live from New Jersey."

I collapse back into my swivel chair. "So…what's the op? No one bothered to fill me in before they most elegantly ditched me at the Lighthouse."

"Alpha recon mission, Oh-Eight-Four here in New Jersey. Something was letting off a high energy signature and a heat wave around an old crater site."

I scratch my chin as Mack's words activate a few cycling images.

A large bowl of rock, carved out from the galactic stone beyond, gleams with shadows. A boulder the color of deep space twinkles in the middle and its striking similarity to the Gravitonium makes me shiver. "That's very alarming."

"That's exactly what I told Yo-Yo, but she shrugged it off like it was nothing."

"Must've been everything that happened with Izel."

"What are you hinting at?"

"It toughened her up. What Izel made us do was something that we'd never seen before and it must've triggered some type of…toughen-up strength of some kind. She used to be…um…"

"What?"

"Squirrelly? More cautious?"

Mack hums. "That's an insult if I've ever heard one."

I throw my hands into the air. "No, no, I– Mack, I didn't mean– Yo-Yo's not– ."

Mack bursts into deep-bellied laughter. "Calm down, Turbo! I'm just messing with you."

I frown. "Yeah, of course you are." Pushing back on the desk, I send my swivel chair into a round of spinning. My feet kick up against the table to stop the chair's circumscribed route.

Yo-Yo's voice pops into the comms. "I know you're talking about me, guys."

Heat floods my face. "Yo-Yo, are you– I mean, did you hear our conversation? Mack and I?"

Yo-Yo chuckles. "Now look who's being squirrelly?"

I roll my eyes. "Enough said."

Mack redirects our talk. "Anyway, Fitz, what were you doing that made you miss the briefing I gave?"

My nerves jumpstart. "There was a briefing?"

"Wow, you were really out of it, Turbo. What _were_ you doing?"

My memory of the team's departure is nothing but the faint latch of the Lighthouse's doors. Other than that…just a dream. A dream…

The heat increases to my neck and I massage my forehead. _I know better than that…_

"Turbo?" Mack's direct address is as smooth as the Hobbits' bloody Shire and no remark from me can stop his treasure quest for information. "What happened?"

I tap my pencil on the desk. "I was sleeping. Peacefully. And– ."

The comms explode with bombs of laughter from throughout the team.

May breaks into the banter. "Fitz! Any nearby hostiles? We're approaching the crater site."

"Uh– ." I clamber toward the table and observe the map in which the New Jersey op is being conducted. "No hostiles, just the Task Force and SHIELD's containment crew. Nothing drastic."

Daisy hops onto communication. "No bad guys?"

I confirm the question with a nod. "No bad guys."

"Are you sure, Fitz?" Daisy's words ride on quick breaths. Hope dangles from the end of the sentence.

I scrunch my eyebrows. "Anything wrong, Daisy? You sound…nervous, almost."

The SHIELD agent clears her throat. "Nah, I just really wanted to quake some guys."

"Ah. Gotcha." I press the balls of my hands into my eyes, arching my back. "Anyway, you guys open for conversation? The mission's not interesting, so I should make it interesting."

May scoffs. "Oh, here we go."

"Yo-Yo, I've been wanting to ask you a certain question for a while now." I watch the team's location on the holographic map as they near the energy wave.

"Oh, _allá vamos,_ Fitz."

I quirk an eyebrow at the screen. "Hmm? What was that?"

"What's the question?"

"Aren't you faster than those flies in the kitchen? So you can whack them to death for us?"

Jemma giggles. "Yes, that would be helpful, Yo-Yo."

"In case you haven't noticed, I've swatted a bunch of them already, _amigo_." By the raspy lightness in Yo-Yo's tone, I can picture the speedster rolling her eyes.

"Agents, hold!" May spears a sharp whisper through my ears.

Silence rings for so long that I recheck the comms for damage.

One second.

Two seconds.

Four.

Ten.

A faint light blinks from the energy signature and I zoom in on the map. My heart rate surges at the enlargement of red. "Um…May?"

"Not now, Fitz."

"May, the energy signature's rising! Get out of there!"

"What?"

"The Oh-Eight-Four– its energy's spiking!"

May scrambles and her GPS marker jerks one way. "Any options?"

"Fitz, can you dispatch your Drone Shields?"

"On it, Simmons."

With one press of a button, Jemma's suitcase pops open and the drones circle the team. Clear shields ripple in-between the machines and seal off on the top in a flash of light.

The energy bulges like an inflating balloon and a raucous siren cuts into my skull. The holographic map flares on and off. Red and off.

Red. Off.

The comms stutter and shut down with an explosion of static.

No feed.

The beeping dies down and energy signature from the map abates to a gentle thrum. But the team's markers are nonexistent.

I lower my hands from my ears. "Je- Jem- Jemma?"

Nothing.

I initiate the comms. "Daisy? Mack?"

Once again, nothing.

My mind snaps and I erupt into action, hands trembling like an overheating engine. Every breath burns in my throat and my clammy fingers fumble with the hologram. Sweaty palms slip on the table as I activate the comms one last time. I inhale with a stuttering breath. "Control to recon team, do you read? Jemma, you hear me?"

One second. Two. Three.

"_Jemma?_"

The static clicks on. "Li– ouse– do you-do you re– ? Repeat: Lighthouse, do you read?"

A giant gasp fills my starved lungs with air. "Oh, bloody h– Jemma?"

Simmons confirms the connection. "I'm okay, Fitz. We're here. Don't worry."

I straighten and wipe my palms on my shirt. "Worry? I wasn't worried."

Piper chirps up with a remark. "Yeah, I'm okay, too. Thanks for asking."

My answer doesn't get to leave my mouth before–

"Fitz?"

I jump to attention. "Yeah, Mack? Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine. Your drones really did the trick."

"G-good." I steady my breathing to calm down my heartbeat. "Brilliant, that is– um… Mack, what happened?"

"It was like this…huge tornado. A lot of strong winds coming from the crater site."

"Could it have come from that rock?"

"Possibly. I don't see anything else that could give off such a radiation."

"I agree."

"All right, Turbo. Approaching the crater site."

I realign the holographic map with the mission in action and gulp another inhale as their markers wink steadily before me. _Good, good. Things are going well. _"The energy signature's lost most of its power, but there's still a small pulse, so be careful."

Daisy makes contact. "Copy that."

"Status, Mack?"

"Engaging in three…two…one…"

I drag the photos from earlier onto the map and swipe them to the side. "Let me know if you see anything strange that could be emitting the energy."

"Yo-Yo?" Mack's gruff voice comes through. "Want to scope it out?"

"_Un paso por delante de ti,_ Turtleman."

_Whoosh._

The team clusters together when she returns with a piece of intel:

"Guys, the rock isn't letting off the energy. Or at least, not all of it."

My ears prick. "Yo-Yo, what do you mean?"

"There was something else there. _Someone_ else. It was…a girl."

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**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **Awwww, some lovely team banter, Fitz being embarrassed, then worried out of his MIND for Jemma, then...oooooo...who's the girl? Dun Dun DUN!

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	2. Chapter Two - Give It Space

Yay! This chapter was so fun to write! Lots of annoyed Fitz and a pretty interesting reveal at the end. :D

For the "critical condition" that I'm going to be putting Fitz in, I'm already researching for cardiac ruptures... HA!

Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:**

**I do not own the Avengers movies, the Marvel franchise, or any of the characters. That all belongs to Marvel Studios. Everything to Marvel Studios.**** Any added dialogue, plots, or characters are mine, but nothing else. I don't own it.**

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Chapter Two - Give It Space

I spare a glance at Yo-Yo and lower my shotgun axe. "A-a girl? Yo-Yo, are you sure?"

She stares me dead in the face. "Of course I'm sure, Turtle-man. I have eyes. Don't you?"

"Not super speed. Show us."

Yo-Yo nods. "Yes, sir." She leads the team around miniature mountains of rock, and dirt crunches underfoot as we creep toward the crater. So focused am I on what's in front of me that, when the ground drops at the lip of the crater, I almost skid down the slope.

"Careful, Mack."

Instead of responding, I direct my attention inwards toward the center of the crater site. The massive space-rock stands, erect and motionless, within the circle. Huddled against the stone's side hunches a weary figure clothed in rags, her boney limbs hugging her legs and her legs squashed against her chest. Despite the torn fabrics dangling from her body, every inch of her is covered in some form of attire as if it were in the dead of winter rather than halfway through autumn. From the current vantage point, her stony eyes fix straight forward, sunken into her head as if a force of gravity's pulling them inward. Her purple-streaked silver hair trickles through the folds of her clothing and around her shuddering form to crumple at her feet. It's obvious that a haircut is just one of many things she's gone without.

I hold up a fist. "Be cautious, team. We don't want to scare her. Be mindful of her boundaries and if she doesn't wish to be moved, then we won't move her."

Simmons dips her head. "May I go down first, Director? I'd like to try a specific approach."

I pause to consider it. "Affirmative. We'll be right behind you."

"How about a loose follow?"

Fitz's request hangs in our ears: "Jemma, be careful. That energy signature was high and I– ."

"Oh, Fitz… I'll be careful. I'll scan the rock too; you'll see."

Jemma scoots off the edge of the hole and plants both feet against the slope, humming a little tune as she teeters toward the center.

The team trails after her.

Simmons tiptoes forward, steadying herself on chunks of nearby dirt.

The young adolescent shrinks away as Jemma draws near, squeezing her legs closer to herself and shutting out contact. With her hollow face hidden in her knees, what was once a nervous, young girl is now a dirty, clothed tangle of bones at the foot of the space-rock.

Jemma stops a few feet away and kneels by the child, who lets out a muffled whimper.

I grit my teeth. "Simmons, be careful!"

She doesn't even look up.

Simmons encourages a greeting to the youngster by offering one of her own. "Hello there!"

I roll my eyes. "Is she trying to reference Star Wars, or what?"

Yo-Yo slaps my arm.

"I'm Agent Jemma Simmons with SHIELD. Have you heard of us?"

The girl begins to tremble. Limb by limb, her entire body goes rigid and quiet sobs float out of her bowed position.

Jemma's face falls. "Oh– no, no, it's all right. It's all right– we're not here to hurt you. Where are your parents?"

She shakes her head and her shoulders slump. "Gone. Gone forever. They're gone. My fault. They're dead…"

My heart bleeds at her words. Images of Hope flash through my conscious.

_"__We're gonna stay right here. Everything I need... It's all right here."_

_"__Am I gonna die? I don't wanna die! I wanna be real!"_

"Mack!" Fitz's urgency jerks me back to reality.

"What's that, Turbo?"

"The energy level's responding to the girl's emotions and intensifying. We need to get her calmed down now!"

Jemma tenses up, but reaches for the girl's sleeve regardless whilst speaking words of comfort.

"_NO!_" The child wrenches away at the touch, wriggling out of reach. "Don't touch me!"

Static bursts in my ear. "Jemma! Do something! The signature level's increasing!"

Simmons whirls around. "Fitz, I– ."

Gunshot. Flash of blue.

The mystery child goes limp with a blue-streaked mark on her forehead.

I whip around with my hand on the trigger.

May lowers a silver gun. "Relax. Just an ICER."

Jemma hurries to the girl's side. "May, why would you– ."

"It was getting out of hand and_ someone_ wasn't handling it. I made the call."

I turn back to Jemma. "Help me get her on the Quinjet."

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When the team walks through the latched doors, I search the group for Jemma. Dirty jeans, flannel shirt, hair strung up in a tight ponytail… There. A rush of heat overwhelms me. I weave around the others to meet her and smack her shoulder.

She recoils. "Ah– ! Fitz, what was– ?"

"Don't _ever _do that again, Simmons."

Her fists fly to her hips. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"You. Scaring me. Strolling up to that crater, that girl– obviously both dangerous!"

"Danger's part of this job, Fitz. And what I did with that girl? It's called _compassion_, and I apologize if you don't have any."

"Oh, ha, ha, _ha! _That's very funny, Jemma, because I can recount a bunch of times where _compassion_ almost got you killed."

Jemma rolls her eyes. "Oh, really? It's hilarious that you mention it, because _compassion_," she stresses the word, "is what stupid thing drove you to sacrifice yourself at the bottom of the ocean!"

I seize her arms. "Oh, wow! You're welcome, maybe? I didn't have a choice."

"Of course you had a choice! And I have a choice too!"

"To get yourself killed?"

"To help that girl, and that's what I did. So– ."

"Fitz-Simmons!"

We both jump at Mack's interruption.

His eyebrows arch like mountains over his shadowed gaze. "Are you done?"

Simmons nods. "Yes, Mack."

I frown. "Says who?"

"Simmons, they need you at the Med-Bay. The girl will wake up soon."

Jemma starts to pull away, but I snatch her wrist. "Jemma, please."

"Fitz… What's wrong? You're usually not this…squirrelly."

"I just… Something's off about that girl and I don't know what it is. I've got a bad feeling about her."

Mack shrugs. "She can't be that bad, Turbo. We don't know what she's gone through."

"Yeah, but still."

Jemma slips out of my grip. "I promise I'll take care of myself, Fitz, as well as assess the situation scientifically."

"But what if that girl's not who we think she is? We don't even _know _who she is. Not even a guess. Anything could happen. What if– ."

Jemma closes in for a quick kiss to stop my worried chatter. "I'll find you later. 'Kay?"

I moisten my lips. "Gotcha." My attention follows Simmons as Mack leads her out of sight. The scent of dry soil still hangs in the air from our brief contact.

My feet find their way to the control room. I'm about to pull up the crater scans for study when–

"Bobo!"

My jaws immediately snap together and I suck in a few deep breaths as Deke's footsteps approach from behind me. His totally-from-the-future-look reflects off the screen and his scruffy smile peaks toward me at an alarming angle. "Hello, Deke."

"I thought I'd come down here to figure out what the fuss is all about. Piper said they found a girl. Really? A _girl?_"

"Yeah. Yep." I swipe through the scans. "Here are the scans from the crater we discovered earlier."

"Looks like something from the old Lighthouse. Well, the future Lighthouse. My Lighthouse. The old-but-not-old Lighthouse. Old to me, at least– ."

"Deke, can you…" I trail off. "Can you either stop talking or…stop talking?"

Deke grumbles. "Really giving me a lot of options there, Grandpa. I can help."

"The crater looks to be mostly iron with bits of space dust and cosmic minerals. Nothing's abnormal about it."

"So that means it was the girl letting off all of that energy?"

"Seems like it. It means she's…"

_Dangerous._

"…different."

Deke crosses his arms. "Hmm."

"Hmm."

"But what if you scan the inside?" Deke leans over the holo-table and lifts his hand.

"Hey– no!" I swat his arm away. "Do not touch this."

"Wow, okay– ."

"You could wreck the technical calibrations!"

"I– okay!"

"I will _not _have you messing up things again!"

Deke slaps his hand on the table. "_I get it, Grandpa!_"

Fuming, I return to my station. However, the scans now point to the source reading of the crater rather than the compositional components, the monitor wheels feverishly spinning from blue to purple. I squint at the information and a storm cloud forms in my brain. _Bloody brilliant. _"Deke, what did you do?"

Nothing.

"Deke?" I pivot to spot him turning the corner and his footfalls depart from the control room. _Great. Now Simmons is gonna have a fit with me if Deke goes to her. And he probably will._ I switch my attention back to the scans. The gauges testing stability and control in the components have transitioned into wheels, which spiral between two warning colors. Scratching my bristly chin, I recall an echo of action that Simmons had announced through the comms.

_"__I set up a live feed of the stone so we'll be able to monitor its constant activity. The camera's hidden in the crater hole. This can help us get a grasp on what exactly this stone is."_

A grin pulls at my lips. _Right on, Simmons._ My fingers fly along the keyboard, and window after window pops up as Jemma's hidden encryption opens the feed.

_Encrypting code… Launch feed?_

"Y-E-S spells 'yes.'"

A video sputters into view, half of the camera fogged with dirt. The stone remains the same. I plunk into the swivel chair and cross-examine the find. _Iron, dust, minerals… What _is_ the thing?_ Twenty minutes of absolute silence follow my jumble of thoughts. For an eternity, I roll around in the chair and chatter lightly to myself as the crater displays not a single change. No movement. No activity. Great. Finally, I stop in front of the desk after finishing my twentieth swivel-lap around the control room and plop my chin in my interlocked fingers. I shut my eyes and work my jaw. "I need to consider the fact that it could just be a meteor that crashed to Earth. Nothing more. But…our experiences with space and things of that sort makes that conclusion near impossible. So what else– ?"

I halt at a curious sound from the feed and turn my attention on. The crater ripples like a disturbed pool and shudders the dirt underneath. Sunlight from above bounces off the tiny waves and reflections glare off of the camera. I scrunch my eyebrows together and pull myself to my feet, pressing my palms against table. My heartbeat increases as the action surfaces a recollection.

_Maveth. Simmons. Towering, grey pillar of rock. Pieces cut out. And its tendency to– _

Right on cue, the meteor cracks down the middle like a seed and crumbles into liquid. Its midnight waves rage through the crater hole and engulf the camera. Stars flash on the other side before static crashes the server and the feed winks out.

Every breath comes fast. Too fast.

I stare at where the footage had been.

_And its tendency to collapse into a portal._

"It's a bloody monolith."

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**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **Fitzsimmons! Monoliths too. :D

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	3. Chapter Three - Hurricane Aria

This chapter didn't take long, because it's when things REALLY get going!

Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:**

**I do not own the Avengers movies, the Marvel franchise, or any of the characters. That all belongs to Marvel Studios. Everything to Marvel Studios.**** Any added dialogue, plots, or characters are mine, but nothing else. I don't own it.**

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Chapter Three - Hurricane Aria

A monolith.

I squeeze the bridge of my nose so hard that it aches when I pull my fingers away.

Really?

It had to be a monolith?

I open my mouth to complain to no one when a knock whirls me around.

Simmons stands in the entrance with her fist raised to the wall. "Thought I should knock before I come in, but you still jumped like a startled monkey."

I lift a finger. "Hey, hey, Jemma. Now, _that_ is offensive."

"Oh, really? You jumped. I saw it."

"No, the monkey. It's too high a praise to compare me to a monkey."

"Oh, Fitz!" Jemma chuckles. A second later, she shakes herself and whisks a strand of hair behind her ears. "Anyway, I need to get to the point. Mack sent me to tell you that…" Her throat constricts and she swallows hard.

I fold my arms. "Jemma…? What's going on?"

"Mack wants you to look after Aria and try to get her comfortable with you because she won't talk to any of us and– ."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa– Wait– Jemma!" I shove my open hands in front of me. "Slow down."

"S-sorry."

"And Aria? Who's that?" My stomach churns.

"The girl. She woke up about ten or fifteen minutes ago and we've been introducing her to every member of the immediate SHIELD team. She's not opening up anyone. Barely even talking. She's terrified and nervous around anyone. All we got out of her was her name. Even that took five full minutes of persuasion. She won't let anyone even come close to her. We need a new approach to communication. Someone who will take a new spin on figuring this out, whether for the best or not. Mack chose you."

My eyes bulge like saucers and I stare her down from under my eyebrows. "Je-Jemma? You're saying that _I_ have to take care of a _child?_"

"Yes. At least for the time being."

A sharp inhale cuts into my throat and I fix her with a warning glare. "Jemma, this won't help anything. You're making a big mistake."

"It was Mack's decision, not mine. Don't blame me."

I turn away, massaging my face. My skin tingles. "Why?"

"You're the only member of team that hasn't interacted with her at all yet. She probably didn't even hear you through the comms when I was interacting with her. Fear is her only memory of the incident at the crater site, so any of us that were there won't help her anymore. And when I was trying to console her anxiety, Deke stormed in with such a rage that she was frightened immediately. And I've gotta say, I wouldn't be surprised if you had anything to do with Deke being mad."

My cheeks burn.

"Ah. Thought so. But you know what this means? It means that you have to try to win Aria's trust. Your way."

"That's hilarious, Jemma. 'Cause y'know what my way is? My way," I take a breath and hold it, "is getting agitated and losing my temper with _bloody children!_" The yell retreats Jemma back a few steps and I twist on my heel. "I can't do that, Jemma. Bad idea."

Jemma rushes forward and catches my arms. "No, no, no, Fitz, listen. Please! If you get agitated with her, then our chance of helping her is gone! You-you can't go wrong with her. You need to try. If you feel yourself losing control, then step away and don't engage! That's better than rendering her too fearful to talk to you either. Please try, Fitz. Please." She takes my rough hands and intwines her smooth fingers with my own.

My jaws cling so tightly together that they prickle with pain. "I… Okay. Fine."

Jemma nods and presses on the inside of her ear. "Mack, he's convinced. Lead Aria down."

I scoff. "Really? On comms with Mack the whole time?"

My wife shrugs. "Had to tell him somehow. Anyway, listen carefully, Fitz. Do not pressure her to do anything she doesn't want to do. She hates being touched or when anyone is even near her. That's why we haven't gotten the chance to get a full blood sample or full vital scan yet. Make the environment as stress-free as possible. You think you can do that?"

I grind my feet into the floor. "Hopefully."

"I know you can." She grants me a kiss, likely as a reward for my cooperation, and withdraws with a grin. "I've seen you charming before. You can do it."

I watch her delicate figure leave, the warmth of her lips still blooming on mine. "All right, Simmons. I'll try my best."

_"__You can do it."_

Hopping up on my tiptoes for a millisecond, the sunlight in my heart encourages a small smirk and I wet my lips with Jemma on my mind for the second time that day.

I've faced betrayal of a brother, hypoxia, a murderous robot, and the bottom of the ocean, not to mention a not-so-imminent, literal future and a singing visionary capable of mental possession. How bad can one child be?

_I can do this. I can be a dad for a day._

_Right?_

_Right._

"Fitz?"

My smile falls at Mack's voice. His loud footsteps in the hallway are followed by a tiny pair farther behind.

He emerges from the shadows and stalks into the room, glancing back at the doorway. Mack pauses. "Aria, come on out. It's okay."

I ball my hands up, then relax and crouch down. "Aria?"

A mini gasp halts the air from outside the entrance.

I don't say anything else. Nothing comes.

Aria's tiny face peeks out from the hall, her pale complexion glinting off the light. Her jittery eyes dart through the room as if scoping out a predator. She inches into the brightness. Attire as thick as a winter snowstorm clothe her from head to toe. Other than a gap for her sapphire eyes, not a centimeter of skin shows. Her silver hair is knotted up in a crude ponytail with purple streaks woven into the strands. She grips the wall as if it's her lifeline and her gloved hands tremble.

I ease into a comfortable sitting position and cross my legs.

Aria freezes at the movement.

"Aria, you don't have to be afraid."

She creeps into the room and backs herself against the wall, taking on a position similar to mine.

Mack sneaks out and leaves the two of us alone.

"Aria, do you know who I am?"

Aria blinks twice at me and shakes her head.

"Well, my name's Fitz. I don't know if you met Jemma Simmons yet, but she's my wife. And this," I gesture around me, "is the control room. Where I keep an eye on everyone during missions to make sure that they aren't getting into any trouble."

No answer.

"Aria? Can you hear me?"

Again, not even one word in response.

I rub my forehead, sighing. "Okay, um… What would Jemma do?"

_"__It means that you have to try to win Aria's trust. Your way."_

My way?

What _is_ my way?

All at once, 'Aria, do you like monkeys?' is out of my mouth before I can stop it.

Aria cocks her head.

I sit straighter. _Movement. That's a first._ "Yeah, monkeys. Y'know, I actually got to see one in the wild once. In Costa Rica, I gave one a high-five. Its adorable, little hands touched mine and it felt like a fuzzy stuffed animal. But-but it was much better than a stuffed animal, believe me." I wiggle my eyebrows. "Bet no one's told you a story like that, huh?"

Aria's lips twitch upward in the formation of a smile.

"You like stories?"

She dips her chin.

"All right, well. I've got lots of them. See, SHIELD is a dangerous job, but it can also be rewarding sometimes…"

Seconds turn to minutes. And minutes to hours. The stories of my SHIELD adventures flow from my supercharged mind like electricity to a plug.

"…then Ward grabs my sandwich and hurls it into the lake! A perfect prosciutto, buffalo-mozzarella sandwich, gone. Just like that. Oh, and don't forget that hint of pesto aioli…"

"…after I got myself out of the closet, I found out that there was a dimension-jumping psychopath in the Bus and…"

"…I was sleeping peacefully, and when I woke up, I found that someone had put icing all over my face…"

"…then Daisy– well, she was Skye then– kissed me on the cheek like my grandmother to sell our relationship in that train. I've gotta admit, I was kind of attracted to her when she first moved onto the Bus, but…"

"…turns out Ward was HYDRA…"

"…Simmons and I had to save ourselves from being trapped in a containment pod underwater and that's when I finally confessed my feelings…"

"…Hunter is one of the best friends I've ever had, and not just because he was bloody hilarious all the time. We had a real laugh with some ferrets one afternoon when he was helping me escape from imprisonment…"

"…Simmons got trapped on another planet for six months, courtesy of the monolith, and when she came back, a pretty painful love triangle formed between…"

"…cut off one head and blah, blah, blah, blah…"

"…when I get nervous, my eyes bug out and I catch my breath, so when I saw Aida with May…"

"…this thing called the Framework…"

"…my bestie and I– his name was Enoch– worked through time to get the future so I could see Jemma again…"

"…I gave this whole speech and proposed, but Jemma, turns out, couldn't even hear me…"

"…she said, 'then marry me, Fitz,' to which, of course, I responded, 'absolutely…'"

Every story relaxes one section of Aria's body, so by the time I end with the recount of my second proposal from twenty-ninety-one, her position rests as comfortable as mine.

I lean back against the desk. "So, what about you? Got any stories to tell?"

Aria's expression drops and the comfort in her limbs disappears. Her eyes flood with tears.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?"

"You made me forget, Mr. Fitz." Her voice diffuses into the air, as quiet as pixie wings.

My eyebrows skyrocket. Words? Finally?

"But I can't forget what I've done."

"What are you talking about? You've done nothing wrong."

She buries her face in the crook of her arm. "I've done bad things, Mr. Fitz. You won't like some of my stories."

Memories rush to the surface.

_"__I think that I'm a bad person."_

_"__It's me they won't forgive."_

_"__Just like Ward. I'm just like Ward."_

I inch closer to her. "You won't like some of mine either, Aria."

Her muscles quit shaking. "That's a lie. Your stories…" She sniffles. "All of your stories are happy."

"Everyone's got a bad story or two."

"Can you tell them?"

I stroke the back of my hand. "Are you sure you're okay to hear them? You're not going to be afraid of me, Aria?"

Aria shifts onto her legs. "I want to know all of you."

"That's-that's highly logical."

"You didn't talk about that Frame-World a lot."

I fall silent. Tears threaten and I tilt my face toward the ceiling to stop them from plummeting. "The Framework broke me. It remade me into someone…"

"Into someone that you're not?" Aria scrambles with the loose fabric on her gloves, her mouth fastened in a straight line.

"No. And that's the worst part. That-that part of me was in there before I went in, it just took a different circumstance to bring it out. And…and I-I killed people."

Aria goes rigid.

"Agnes. Jeffery Mace. So many p-people. And it-it doesn't matter that most of them were just code. I did it. Me. I pulled the trigger. I-I shot J-Jemma. I conducted Inhuman experimentations. All-all-all of them. I-I c-couldn't– I-I wanted to– I-I th-thought it was– ." I smash my fist on the ground and press it against my teeth, drawing in a sharp, hitching breath as tears skid down my face. I shut my eyes. "I'm-I'm sorry, Aria. I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have– ."

"I was seven."

I stop dead. "What?"

"I was seven when my parents died. And I killed them. I don't know how, but I was getting stressed about math homework, of all things, and I felt myself get stronger, filling with something. My hands were shaking. My heart was beating like a truck. And then my parents just started…suffocating." Aria sniffs, clenching and unclenching her fists. "They fell down and couldn't breathe. I tried to do something, but everything I did seemed to make it worse. A few minutes later, they were dead. That was two years ago."

I gape at her. "I'm-I'm so sorry, Aria."

"I-I never found out why it happened. Bad things seemed to follow me everywhere I went. A trail of bodies. So I isolated myself from everyone."

I click the computers on. "And you said it only happens when you're stressed?"

Aria slips her gloves off. "Y-yeah. I don't know why I haven't killed anyone here yet. I thought it had something to do with my skin, so that's why I started bundling up like this. It's seemed to work."

My fingers float on the keyboard. "Can I ask you a question, Aria?"

"Mmhmm."

"Why were you scared of everyone else, but not me?"

Aria contemplates her answer for a moment. "Because you told stories. My dad would always tell me stories before bed and at meal times."

"So I remind you of your dad?"

Aria nods.

I crack a smirk and move toward her. "Can I come toward you?"

Aria leaps to her feet and snatches her gloves up. She shoves her right hand in one.

"No, no, no, Aria, wait!"

The girl freezes.

"We're gonna find out what's different about you, okay? We're gonna fix this. Together. But-but you have to keep your gloves off. That way, we can get a– ."

_"…__chance to get a full blood sample or full vital scan yet."_

"– a blood sample."

Aria teeters backward. "No. No, you can't."

"No, Aria, it's going to be fine. We'll get you fixed up." I advance toward her.

"No!"

"Aria! Please, work with me. We need to figure this out together! And _you_," my feet bring me closer, "need to cooperate."

She recoils at the distance between us.

"No, think about your parents. We can make it so nothing like that ever happens again. We can figure this out and it won't happen again. Okay? Wouldn't that be nice?"

Aria eyes my outstretched hand. "You promise this will work?"

I inch my arm forward and slide off her hat, releasing a frizz of silver hair. "I promise. And as far as promises go, that one's pretty solid. I'm good at this kind of thing."

Aria grits her teeth and reaches her tiny hand out…

Contact.

A stab of pain like a knife tears through my chest and I jerk away with a sharp gasp. My hand lingers over my heart as I start to exhale, only to realize–

I can't.

The pain in my chest increases, like a claw ripping time and time again. I double over, gasping. No oxygen comes. Every gasp gets tighter and tighter. Like my esophagus's snapped shut. My middle constricts like a snake coiling around me, not expanding, not filling, just hollow. No breath. Nothing. I grope for the desk and cling to the edge.

_I can't breathe._

My heartbeat spirals out of control as heat gushes through my chest, my lungs, my throat.

_I can't breathe. I can't breathe._

My hands scramble over my pounding heart. The pain digs deeper and slices through my back. A knife running me through. Over. And over. And over. My eyes bulge and my mouth hangs open, as if awaiting a breath that doesn't come. Only a wheezing sound exits. My clammy fingers shake so hard that I lose my grip on the table and slump to the floor.

I collapse onto the ground, twitching, as my vision blurs.

Aria shrieks somewhere nearby, but my thunderous heartbeat drowns her out.

Another sharp pain stabs through my chest. The ceiling sways. Sweat soaks my collar and black spots close in around me.

Thick hands clutch my shoulders and Deke's face swerves through my gaze.

His mouth's moving. No words reach me. He's yelling. I can feel his breath on my cheeks.

_I can't breathe. I can't breathe. Please, Deke, help. Help…_

I manage to squeeze out a plea for help before the darkness wins and I fall into unconsciousness.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **

Oh my gosh, I love love love how Fitz interacts with Aria. I love how he tells all the stories and I'm rewatching season 1 of Agents of SHIELD right now, so it was a bunch of nostalgia to try and pick out some of Fitz's best moments to tell. :D

Also, WHAT HAPPENED TO FITZ?

Read and review!


	4. Chapter Four - Cursed Knots

AAAALLLRIIIGGGHHHTT DIAGNOSIS TIIIIMMEE! And Fitz suffering time and FITZ GETTING WORRIED OVER TIME!

Most of these chapters haven't been too long, but I don't write for the long chapters usually, I write for the story and the emotion. And this chapter has a lot of both :D However, I do really like it when a chapter goes long.

I did _so **much **_RESEARCH for this chapter and I'm super duper DUPER happy with how it turned out. Lots of medical details in here btw.

Responding to reviews...

**Amethyst Goldenwind: **Aww, thanks for diving into my story! Despite knowing nothing about the SHIELD universe and story, you are supportive nonetheless. :D I appreciate you. ANYWAYS, yeah the girl is pretty different, but I get into that later in the story. Your reactions made me smile, though!

Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:**

**I do not own the Avengers movies, the Marvel franchise, or any of the characters. That all belongs to Marvel Studios. Everything to Marvel Studios.**** Any added dialogue, plots, or characters are mine, but nothing else. I don't own it.**

* * *

Chapter Four - Cursed Knots

"Seriously, it's like Fitz doesn't care at all!"

"He cares, Deke. He just doesn't know it yet."

I frown at Jemma as she hurries about the room. "What are you even doing?"

"If Fitz calms Aria down enough to convince her to let us examine her, of course, for good, then we'll have to be ready. Speaking of which, it's been quite a while and Fitz hasn't called for dramatic parental backup, so do you want to go see how he's doing?"

I grit my teeth. "You're kidding me."

"No, I'm not. You two need to make up sometime. You might as well do it now. Or soon, for that matter."

I roll my eyes and stomp out of the room. "Fine, Grandma." I catch Jemma sighing as I stroll into the hallways. The walls close in around me, cold, metal, full of shadows. The lights overhead don't flicker like they'd done at my past-but-also-future Lighthouse. Despite how long it's been since I came back, the food here still makes my tongue tingle. Every footstep echoes through the corridors and my mind fogs over with storm clouds as I picture Fitz's sour expression at the sight of me.

Piper passes me on the way down and we exchange a quick, wordless greeting.

_I swear, Fitz literally doesn't care at all for me. He wouldn't care if I walked straight out of here and left everybody. He'd probably by happy about me lea–_

A scream further down the hall interrupts my thoughts. A girl. Aria?

_What in the…?_

I rub my forehead and quicken my stride to the doorway. "Fitz, what are you doing with…"

For a split second, I can't spot him.

Aria. In the corner. Ears clamped.

I follow her gaze and my heart skips a beat.

Fitz. Collapsed on the ground. Twitching.

I explode into a run and drop to my knees beside him, catching his shoulders. His skin, white as chalk. Clothes, soaked with sweat. Eyes, swerving out of focus. Lips, parted, but no breath. I scramble for his wrist.

His pulse, fast. Too fast.

A strangled noise from Fitz's throat snaps my head up.

"D…Deke… Can't breathe… H-help… He…"

His body goes limp.

I spring to my feet. "Piper! Piper, get down here!"

Mack appears at the entrance, massaging his eyes. "Deke, what's–" His eyes flash. "Fitz." He snatches up his walkie-talkie. "Simmons, get medical down here STAT!"

* * *

I'm already crying by the time they haul my husband's stretcher into the OR.

I take a shuddering breath. "Breathing tube?"

Piper nods. "In place, Simmons. Heartbeat?"

"He's tachycardic, hypotensive. CT angiogram?"

"Done. Thoracic rupture, abdominal aneurysm. Diagnosis?"

"The full scan points to a Type A rupture of Fitz's aorta. Major artery stemming from the heart. Coronary artery bypass. We'll need a heart-lung bypass machine."

"We have signs of shock and stroke, but no confirmation." Piper bites her lip. "Might want to wipe those tears away, Simmons. You need clear vision for this."

I sniffle and turn away. "Right. Open-heart incision, on-pump surgery."

"Team?"

"Lead surgeon, anesthesiologists, perfusionists, nurses, and technicians."

"Good. We'll need them."

The surgery begins with the anesthesia.

Regardless of my quick hands and the chopping tools, only bits and pieces of the procedure stay in my head.

"…incision on the left side…"

One hour.

"…open his ribcage…"

Two hours.

"…move the organs…"

Three hours.

"…give him medication to thin his blood and release the pressure…"

Four hours.

"…plug the aortas feeding the organs…"

Five hours.

"…repair it and remove the clamps…"

Six hours.

"…ready the Doppler ultrasound…"

Seven hours.

"…reverse the medication, double-check the organs, and close the wounds…"

"…change the breathing tube and insert another separate one for pain relief…"

Nine hour operation.

After we conduct the neurological assessment to determine the severity of the unconsciousness and anesthesia, I thank the surgery team in a blur of nods and handshakes and shed my bloody gloves, taking the time to cleanse myself. Stepping off the side, I complete a couple sheets of paperwork with hands shaking so hard that I'll be surprised if anyone can actually read it.

Piper comes to fetch me and says something about informing the rest of the team. My heartbeat drowns out every other noise as I leave the OR and through the hallways where the rest of the team bunches to hear my briefing.

Mack stares at me. "Simmons? How is he?"

"He– ." My mouth streaks dry and my throat closes up.

Piper spares a glance at me. "We can't tell you his survivability rate yet. There's been a lot of damage."

I wring my hands at waist level. "It was a rupture in his thoracic aorta and a severe inability to breathe. The diagnosis so far is potential numbness in his legs and arms due to low oxygenated blood and loss of circulation, some aggravation of his hypoxia, slight hypoxemia, low blood pressure, and a continued difficulty breathing. There's also a twenty percentage rate of possible infections and kidney failure."

Looking over the team, the crushed faces and teary gazes almost break me. I steel myself.

_Don't cry. Don't cry, Jemma. Not yet._

Deke pushes to the front of the group. "Well, is he gonna be okay?"

I fake a smile. "We don't know, Deke." My brow wrinkles and I wipe my palms on my jeans. "You're all welcome to see him." I hurry past the team, my throat choked with barely-suppressed emotion, and wander to my room. My hands scramble at the doorknob and I enter, leaning against the door as it shuts.

Then the tears come.

I slump against the door and bury my face in my hands, shivering even harden than before. I can't escape the horrors of memory. The images of Fitz's bloody chest after the incision and the stillness of his white expression lock into my mind. The heart monitor screeching like a firetruck siren in the OR. The gloves, splattered red following the surgery. The soft peeling of the surgeons inching his ribs apart.

Even now, machines control pain for him. Regulate his heartbeat for him. Breathe for him.

Time and tears pass.

When I lift my face from my arms, the clock's blinking two-thirty.

It's been thirty-five minutes.

I struggle to my feet and stagger to the mirror, blinking at myself. Bloodshot eyes, dark circles, chapped lips.

_Fitz…_

_"__I…I suppose it's very new."_

_"__No, it isn't."_

_When are you going to stop getting yourself in trouble?_

A soft knock turns my head and a shadow fleets under the door.

"Simmons?"

My muscles relax in the slightest. "Daisy?"

"Yeah, it's me. Can I come in?"

I pad on patched socks and creak open the entrance.

Some of the softest eyes in any galaxy meet mine as the light reveals my best friend. Brown waterfalls of hair trace her smooth face and rest on her jacket, including blue streaks nearly turned blonde. Her tiny, silver earrings glint off the hallway's light and pink fingernails cup her fingers in bursts of color. "I-I just wanted to make sure you're okay." She sets something at her feet. "You've been…up here for a little while."

I peer back at the clock. "I suppose I _have_ been MIA… Have you been to see him yet?"

Daisy shuts the door and clasps her hands at her waist. "Nope. Mack's with him now. There's no sign of Aria."

I tap my wedding ring.

"He's gonna be okay, Simmons."

"Stop, Daisy. Don't try and comfort me with something that we don't even know is true." A flush of cold attacks my body and I wrap my arms around my chest.

Daisy cross-examines me with eyebrows crunched together and slips off her tough, leather jacket to publicize a tightly-knitted sweater. "Then you want my shoulder?"

The words catch in my throat. Finally, I glance down at what she'd brought with her.

A box of tissues.

My next breath almost holds back my onslaught of feelings. Almost. The slight hiccup twitches my friend's attention.

Daisy steps forward and eases me into a hug.

I crumble to tears in her embrace, flooding today's emotions onto her.

Daisy's firm grip on my body absorbs every shudder, every gasp, every sob. She massages little circles into my back and runs her delicate fingers through my hair, loosening each knot.

And along the way, she manages to loosen a few in my heart as well.

* * *

AWWWWW THEIR FRIENDSHIP IS SO AMAZING! I hope I did it justice. :)

Sorry if anybody reading this is sensitive to medical details :P I try to make things as a realistic and accurate as possible ESPECIALLY when it comes to wounds and medical stuff. And I love doing research on my own anyways.

ALSO, with my _other_ current fanfiction for Agents of SHIELD, they are all in the planning process and I haven't actually started writing them yet. Copy That is season 3 and Before We Broke is season 1, BUT NOT SEASON 2! I wanted to set something in a time that would deal with Fitz's hypoxia in season 2 a little bit, but it just didn't work out. That's why I'm so excited to aggravate his past hypoxia injury as well! YAY!

Read and review!


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